Product Management has become a team effort

Product management is done by the whole team.

Product management is the key of a project. New products are created each day. At times it seems to happen too quickly. Quick product delivery is seen as normal. Quality cannot decrease with the speed. Products need to be easy and fun to use. The demands are high and not easy to please. A fresh way is needed to achieve all of these.

Operations and projects have grown very close. Good product management keeps this in mind. Project change the way operations work. Operations affect how a project is done. A scrum master needs to keep both in mind. The product manager relies on the scrum master. A whole is greater than the simple sum of its parts.

Team members need to manage their own work. Project managers are also known as scrum masters. Analysts are now product managers. The new roles need a new way of thinking. Goals are still set, but the way of work is not. Product management is a team effort.

A project manager usually directs people closely. People were pushed to meet deadlines. This Waterfall approach did not work well. Project managers were only looking at targets. The targets were often outdated before the project finished. Keeping track of progress is still important. Progress is now used to see, how well a team does. The scrum master looks for areas to improve. The areas are then reviewed with the team. The team is then guided to improve work. A scrum master coaches the team. This is a form of product management.

Good product management is dynamic. The same is expected from the scrum master. Both will have a strong character. Work often overlaps in a good agile team. People work closely in agile teams. Conflict is expected in such teams. Conflict needs to be resolved quickly. Great products are created by great teams. Good conflict is needed to make great teams.

Our next post will cover product management done by the rest of the team.